City Life Starter

Written by Nate Warren

The Word

Acts 8

26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”

30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:

“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”

34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”

37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”

And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

Isaiah 56

³ Do not let the son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the Lord
Speak, saying,
“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;
Nor let the eunuch say,
“Here I am, a dry tree.”
⁴ For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
⁵ Even to them I will give in My house
And within My walls a place and a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off.

Reflection

This royal official had travelled very far to worship the God of Israel, perhaps 2,000 miles from the area far south of Egypt. He came despite knowing that eunuchs were not permitted inside the temple grounds even if they were Israelites by lineage or conversion. He is an important man in the kingdom he travels from, but he senses there is more to life than temporal importance. He has no hope for the kind of immortality that most depend on – children to carry on the family name and legacy. So earnest is his seeking for meaning that he opens the fragile and expensive scroll of Isaiah, reading carefully as his chariot bumps along the rocky desert road.

God had been thinking of this man’s righteous search for meaning and truth for generations. After hearing the good news and confessing his faith in Jesus as the Son of God, he would have opened his scroll once again to read these 600-year-old words that were being fulfilled in himself: “Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them [foreigners and eunuchs] an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.”

Application

Jesus said in Revelations:

To the one who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows except the one who receives it. (Rev 2:17 NASB)

God has an everlasting name for each of His faithful servants. This is much more than what you are called, but who you are called to be – an eternal identity of destiny, authority, and purpose.

What does God call you?

Prayer

Father,

What do You want me to know about the destiny You have created me to fulfill?

What is my name?

May it be in me as You have spoken.

Amen